To save power in ultrasound diagnostic imaging systems and method of operating the same, prior attempts have been made to turn off certain circuits or reduce power consumption in these or other circuits during the operation. These attempts are either by turning off or reducing power consumption of the circuits that are unnecessary or idle during certain phases of the operation. As the powered-down circuits are needed again during certain other phases of the operation, the ultrasound imaging system increases power consumption in these circuits to an operable level. Obviously, although these attempts save some power consumption, they also require additional controls.
The additional controls may involve some trade-offs. For example, since power-down and power-up require an additional amount of time, the efficiency in the ultrasound imaging system may be compromised. In another trade-off, the image quality may be compromised due to the lack of the stable power in certain image processing circuits.
One way to improve power consumption in the ultrasound diagnostic imaging systems is related to controlling various processing units based upon the delayed time characteristics of the reflected ultrasound signals that are received at the probe.